Galania-class battleship
Class overview | |
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Name: | Galania-class battleship |
Builders: | Ardiaei Constructs |
Operators: | Navy of the Syaran Republic |
Preceded by: | First battleship design |
Succeeded by: | Scitaria-class (intended) |
In commission: | 1920 - 1928 |
Planned: | 8 |
Completed: | 8 |
Cancelled: | 0 |
Lost: | 8 |
Retired: | 0 |
Preserved: | 0 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Battleship |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 237.76 meters |
Beam: | 32.82 meters |
Draft: | 9.6 meters |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 27 knots |
Range: | 8,480 kilometers at 16 knots |
Complement: |
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Armament: |
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The Galania-class was a class of battleship of the Navy of the Syaran Republic. The class was composed of eight ships, the Elegy for Erasmios, Finite and Precious, Calm and Penance, Giver of Life, Saints and Sinners, Forged in Fire, Shielded Spirit, and Spoken Psalm. Manufactured between 1920-1928, they were the first modern battleships built by the Republic of Syara.
Despite victory during the Divide War, the inability of the Syaran fleet to meet the Cacertian Imperial Navy in open engagements deeply worried the Syaran admirality, who began working on a major expansion of the Navy in the post war years. Supported by President Sasko Anastasov, the navy laid down plans for 24 battleships. The first to be designed and built were the Galania-class, which were envisioned, planned, and laid down within by 1920, just two years after the war had ended. Intended to match any other battleship fielded in Tyran, rapid naval development in the post-Divide War era, coupled with Syaran unfamiliarity with large warship designs meant that the Galania-class was outpaced by other major naval powers just a few years after its introduction. Her rushed design and construction left the original models with noticable flaws; the ship was underpowered for her size, slower, and lacked advanced fire control systems. Her rushed design left little room for improvement, and by 1930 the class was considered markedly inferior compared to other Syaran battleships. The Galania-class was the only Syaran battleship class that had completed all of its planned production by the time of the Siduri War.
Given its inferior design compared to its peers and adversaries, the Galania-class ships were usually relegated to support roles during the Sundering Sea Campaign, while also providing fire support for the Army of the Syaran Republic during the Western Theater. All the class save for the Saints and Sinners and Giver of Life took part in the Battle of the Sabri Sea. As expected the Galania-class ships did not match up well against their Cacertian counterparts, and following the defeat the battleships were withdrawn back to Syaran waters, taking part only in scattered engagements in the Sundering Sea and providing fire support off the coast of Mansuriyyah.
None of the Galania-class survived the Siduri War and its aftermath. The Forged in Fire and Finite and Precious were sunk at the Sabri Sea, the Calm and Penance was torpedoed in the Sundering Sea in October 1936, and the Giver of Life was stricken by bombers off the Mansuri coast and abandoned by her crew on the way back to Syara. The remaining four ships of the class were all scuttled by the Syarans after the war, near the port of Moddra. The Shielded Spirit was partially refloated and broken up for scrap in 1942, while the remaining wrecks remain a popular site for scuba divers.